Chapter 3

The Alpha

The residential district surrounding the Inuzuka compound is usually one of the most loved by new arrivals to the village and the occasional tourist. It may not be close to a very prestigious and rich clan like the Uchiha once were or the Hyuga still are, but it has one thing they both lack:

An abundance of friendly animals to keep things lively and comfortable.

Every home in that area, apartments included, allows pets. A lot of them are free-roaming, as the Inuzuka hounds keep them all in line and almost seem to pass on their value in loyalty to any others around them. Leashes are very uncommon here, and the only thing less common is cats. Occasionally, Tora will invade the area on a bleak day and raise hell until a Jonin can manage to fight his way through the horde of canines and collect the royal cat that many swear is a descendant of the Nibi.

But, there are of course other animals that are often frowned upon in that area. Parrots aren't too popular, partly due to rarity, partly due to how obnoxious they can get once they start imitating the speech patterns of the louder Inuzuka clan members. Most of all though, is foxes. It's no surprise that after the fateful day of the Kyuubi's attack, the village has come to collectively hate the species.

So of course, Naruto was very careful to not drawn any attention as he made his way to the Inuzuka compound. He knew there'd be no way to hide Yoko from their keen sense of smell once he gets there, but he figured he could at least reason with Kiba and his mother to keep things from getting out of hand. For now, he's lucky enough for Yoko to nearly fall asleep in the front of his jacket on the way there. It takes all the discipline he has not to pet her and blow his cover.

The front gates of the compound are wide open, inviting anyone to enter. The Inuzuka are one of the most hospitable clans in the village as well, always willing to welcome guests and treat them like family as long as they show the same respect for nature and loyalty they live by. Having done a little gardening in his window to spruce up his apartment, he's guessing his respect for nature is up to snuff. As for loyalty, just about everyone in the village knows of his declarations of being the next Hokage, regardless of whether they believe him or not.

The moment he passes through the gates, Akamaru's already jumping at his shins and yapping away. Naruto stumbles for a moment, struggling to calm the overexcited pup without kneeling down and putting Yoko in danger. "H-hey, c-come on! It's just me! You saw me in class an hour ago!"

"Yeah, but he smells something new about you." Kiba walks around the corner with his hands tucked into his hoodie pockets. "You smell more like a fox than usual."

Naruto raises a brow at that. More than usual? What's that supposed to mean? Better look into that later. "Um… well, the reason for that is the same reason I'm here. A-Any chance I could talk to your mom? I have a few questions to ask her."

Kiba raises a brow and tilts his head, cueing Akamaru to mimic his partner. "What business do ya have with her?"

Naruto sighs softly, unsure how to word this. ".. Clan business, I suppose. Answers only she can provide. Please, Kiba… this is really important to me. Come on, I haven't asked you for anything since that exploding desk incident."

"… Fine. Come on, she's-"

"Right here." Both boys nearly jump out of their skin as Tsume speaks from overhead. What they look up to find is the Inuzuka clan head standing upside-down on the branch of a tree that's grown over the compound's wall. She smirks and falls, landing on her left hand and vaulting to her feet. "So, what do ya need, kid? My clan doesn't exactly do many favors, so this is kind of an odd move, even for you…"

Naruto gulps as he struggles to calm his nerves, and eventually, he sighs and lowers his head, canceling his henge as he pulls Yoko from his jacket. Both Inuzakas stare blankly for varying reasons, but seem mildly alarmed and confused. "I was hoping you could help me to train Yoko here and get her registered as something sorta like one of your hounds."

Tsume kneels down for a closer look at the fox kit as she yawns and looks the clan head right in the eyes. Her gaze is unwavering, not the slightest ounce of fear or malice of any kind to be found. They stare each other down until Tsume smiles and stands. "So, who suggested ya come to me for this?"

"U-Um…" Naruto cradles the orange canid. "Maito Gai sent me. Yoko and I ran into him and Lee while I was checking on my latest traps."

"Hmm…" She rubs the back of her neck. "Well, I'll have to thank Gai later." She crosses her arms and shifts into a more confident stance that many would find right at home if done by a certain snake mistress. "We've been looking for ways to expand our clan's skill sets, and expanding into other, more specialized canids would be the perfect way to do it." She reaches down and gently pets the young fox to reassure her. "We won't be taking her from you, she's all yours, but training her would make for great practice to be ready to train foxes ourselves."

Naruto's bewildered stare slowly grows into a face-consuming grin. "Well, when do we start?! The sooner we can get this rolling, the better!"

"Hmm…" Tsume scratches her head for a moment and peeks back to her towering hound, looking into his one good eye. "What do you think? Ready to start now?"

Kuromaru nods and steps closer. "I'm honestly almost excited for it. I wonder if she'll be as good of a student as Akamaru's been."

Naruto almost gapes at the sight of a talking dog, but manages to silence himself with a nervous gulp. "W-Well, um… I-I guess she's i-in your care, for now…" He gently sets Yoko onto her paws, and she turns to face him with a tilted head. "Sorry, girl… you'll have to stay here for a while." He crouches and pets her for a moment. "But I'll be back to see you every day until I can take you home, ok?"

"You're not going anywhere yet." Naruto peeks up to Tsume. "Your training starts now. First off is obedience training, and unless she's a prodigy, you're gonna be here for a while."
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Kiba lies awake late into the night, staring at his ceiling as the last few days' events plague his mind. He couldn't help it. To an Inuzuka, especially the males, the pack hierarchy is undeniable, and to change positions within it is a life-changing event.

His position as being just above dead last has been threatened.

He's never been the best student. A slacker, rebellious, constantly fidgeting and complaining through class until the few parts he's ever cared about, the physical training and testing, finally rolls around. In those, he excels, but even then, he's outdone. Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata all have better aim. Chouji and Naruto are physically stronger. Sasuke and Shikamaru on the rare occasion that he applies his talents are more critical and calculative. Now even Naruto's starting to improve in those, moving up from dead last and surely to at least the middle of the class.

And where does that leave Kiba? Dead last. The omega of the pack. Lowest of the low and nearly worthless in his own eyes.

It took a while for him to realize what lead Naruto to catch up so quickly. At first, it made no sense to him. He'd never shown such potential before, and now he's one of the most driven in the class, if not a bit off-kilter considering he's always too focused on his own studies to pay much attention to class content.

What sealed it for him was the last two days. First was just how much he applied himself to training Yoko. Even Kiba had to admit, she was one of the quickest students he'd ever seen in the compound. She was still shaky on communicating with the hounds, but improving fast. She could take orders like a seasoned ninken, but had the wit to judge when an order was too dangerous or misdirecting. What she lacks is the strength and size of a ninken, but that can be accounted for in however Naruto designs her personal techniques, and he seemed to already be considering it. Whenever he was on the Inuzuka compound, every moment was about Yoko. All of his training was dedicated entirely to her, for the sake of her future and safety. He found strength in having someone to fight with and for.

But in every moment of downtime, Naruto was seated nearby, absent-mindedly feeding and petting her while his eyes and right hand were focused on blueprints for new traps or practicing his sealing calligraphy. Even when he had to take a break from training Yoko, he was still entirely dedicated to one of his passions and talents. Not a moment was ever wasted.

Kiba may not be the smartest, but it didn't take him long to realize that difference between himself and Naruto. He must apply himself more and stop wasting so much time on meaningless pursuits. He must find things that truly matter to him and focus every waking moment on them. Only then would he be able to catch up and not only take his place in the hierarchy back, but move beyond it and become the next Alpha of the clan.

But this particular night, that question takes a back seat as he listens in on a conversation between Akamaru, Kuromaru, and Yoko. The kit has learned enough now to discuss things that instantly made him question his village, his friend, and even his beliefs.

Just who and what is Naruto? Kyuubi incarnate, or living prison?
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"Danzo-sama. We have news regarding the jinchuuriki." Danzo raises his head from his desk and stares down the Root agent kneeling before him. He waves to gesture the young man to continue. Even fully clothed in Anbu black spandex, gray vest, and painted mask, his high-pitched voice and stature betray his identity as one of Root's youngest agents. "His training has taken a turn. He's begun to train as a trap master, and is progressing at an alarming rate. Compounded with his newfound studies into fuinjutsu, he'll become an invaluable asset to the village. There were contingencies in place for this potential route, but we were unprepared for the second development. He has taken in a young fox as his equivalent of a ninken, and is training them as a joint effort with the Inuzaka clan. Furthermore, we've recorded no less than five occasions thus far, in which he has gone into a trance-like state when making eye contact with the fox he now calls 'Yoko'."

The bandaged old warmonger closes his eyes and loses himself in calculations and predictions. Naruto's penchant for pranking always seemed like a suitable career starter as a trap master, something he hadn't seen in this village since his youth, and that one happened to die during the second war, taking a surrounding troop from Kumo out with him. Having a new one at their disposal would be invaluable. As for the fox…

That may require twisting Jiraiya's arm. He may be tapping into the kyuubi's power unconsciously, or this new fox is drawing it out of him somehow. The biju have been known to congregate with their own kind when loose, and previous jinchuuriki have had affinities for species connected to their beasts. Han apparently has a bit of a thing for horses, and reports from Kumo suggest Ni Yugito is a bit catty. For now, the fox is a wild card, but not one to be avoided. There's few times that a joker is a good card to hold on to, but Naruto has proven to turn odds in his favor frequently.

But, those odds must not be allowed to sit. His new preoccupations with the fox and his seals need to be urged in the right direction. Sarutobi may disagree, but the time for the truth is close at hand, before he discovers his own seal or learns too much from this "Yoko".

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Late into that Friday evening, after yet another long day of classes, training Yoko, and checking his traps in the dark, Naruto finally returns to his apartment and collapses face-first into his bed. He groans into the tangled blanket and mumbles incoherently to himself.

"Not taking all this training so well, hm?" Naruto bolts upright and stares up to his window, finding a familiar anbu mask staring back at him. The simplified dog mask shifts aside to unveil yet another mask and a single eye beneath a tall mess of silver hair. "Konbanwa, Naruto. Been a while, hasn't it?"

Naruto stares for a moment, but sighs and sits up. "Hai, Inu-san. Haven't seen you or Tora for a while now."

The now ex anbu waves that accusation off and sets his Inu mask aside. "We've been around. You haven't needed us to babysit you, so we've kept our distance and just ensured your safety. You've been progressing quite well lately on your own, though. Your traps are quite impressive."

Naruto groans and flops back into his bed, then rolls over. "Yeah, but… with classes going on and needing to train Yoko, not to mention how much of a slave driver Tsume is about that, I can't manage to keep working on my traps lately, or my sealing. I've got too much to work on at once. I need more hours in a day."

Kakashi grins at that phrasing. "Well, you're in luck. It's probably not the smartest thing to do, but, well… you don't exactly have a clan to teach you any jutsu, and most of your classmates know some sort of B rank jutsu by now through them. So, how about I fill in that role for you?" Naruto peeks up from his sheets with bewilderment in his eyes. "How familiar are you with Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Naruto groans louder yet, holding his pillow to his face for a moment. "Damnit, I can't do that jutsu! It's the only one form the academy that I haven't mastered enough to ditch Anbu with!"

Kakashi sweatdrops as he recalls the times his coworkers were stumped by the boy's evasive skills after particularly nasty pranks. "Y-Yes, well… what about Kage Bunshin? It takes a lot more chakra, but considering how much you have, it should be easier for you to manage, and these clones are real."

Silence falls for a moment until Naruto bolts upright. "Real clones? Like, physical, flesh and blood clones that can act for me?"

Kakashi nods and makes a quick handsign, producing a single clone beside him. Said clone then chucks his extra mask at Naruto, who barely manages to dodge it and leap off his bed to the left. "They can only take one hit, though." Kakashi backhands his own clone in the face to dismiss it in a cloud of smoke. "And when they die, you collect their memories."

By the end of his explanation, Naruto was nearly drooling at the potential of this technique. He could practically see the gears turning in his head, almost literally. All his training as a trap master, learning to find multiple uses for everything, and his sealing experience teaching him to weave every stroke together, has made his mind a multifaceted mechanical marvel. When he sees potential, he abuses it. And few techniques have the potential and versatility of the Kage Bunshin. The Nidaime made sure of that. "… When do we start?"

"Now, if you don't mind working late. You don't have to meet with Tsume until two anyway."

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Of course you know that…"

"Well, I get along great with the Inuzuka." He reaches into his vest and pulls out a chain with a preserved hound teeth. "I'm an honorary member. Just wait till you meet my summons."

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Training ground three was a popular location. The proximity of the KIA Monument provided both a numbing realism to training there as well as passionate inspiration and motivation. Kakashi spent all too much time here, wallowing in suffering and depression that constantly bogs down his life. Naruto's presence here, on the other hand, helped him to finally feel a bit of that fire he had lost for so long.

The fuel for that fire was provided by the young man with him swearing up a storm between failed attempts at this jutsu. At this point, there was a constant thin veil of smoke around him after the number of failed clones he'd created and dispersed. "KAMI DAMNIT, Why the hell is this jutsu so fucking hard?!" He punches the grass and forces himself back to his feet, stumbling as he gathers more chakra, struggling to tame it all into the proper form. "Is it… still too much chakra?... Yeah… I keep killing normal bunshin by overloading them…. And I'm doing it again!" He clenches his fists and grits his teeth, forcing the chakra to surround him. "My control's never been good enough, and it's only getting worse! Why?" He makes the handsign. "Why?!" His chakra flares up around him, forming a visible shroud of faded blue. "WHY?!"

With one last guttural cry, he focuses on not one point to mold his chakra, but dozens. As many as he can envision around him. A smoky explosion rocks the training ground, and Kakashi raises his head from his favorite literature in shock. He'd never seen that much smoke produced by one jutsu outside of one peculiar jutsu designed entirely to make smokescreens and the occasional boss sized summon, which he'd only witnessed once or twice in his whole career. What he found upon the smoke clearing was a troop of nearly a hundred Narutos, all looking to themselves and each other in awe. Some inspect themselves for their full range of sensations and physical details, Others leap about and cheer, but with the field so packed, some leap into one another and knock their heads together. As exhausted as Naruto was before making these clones, that little of an impact was enough to dispel them.

Amidst them all, Naruto stands with a proud smile on his face and sweat on his brow, huffing and slouching as he takes in the fruit of his labor.

But then, the final kick in the pants for the night. The clones are all struck with sparks of inexplicable pain at once, eyes turning red for split seconds before they pop. All of them popping at once floods Naruto's exhausted and addled mind with their memories and flashes of random and inexplicable imagery in the back of his head in time with the pain. Assaulted with all of these memories at once, he blacks out, and collapses into a twitching heap in the grass, just before Kakashi can reach him.

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Deep within Naruto's sullen, cavernous mind, A set of titanic fangs and blackened lips form an almost sickening grin. "Finally. It took far too long to find a way to drag you in here. Come to me, Naruto. We have much to discuss."

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A.N.: So, how was everyone's summer? Mine just ended, and I finished writing this chapter in the middle of class. Isn't college great? Someone please mail me an ethernet cable for my dorm room, the wifi off main campus is terrible. Goddamnit, USH.

Anyway, wadda yas think of Naruto's progress thus far and Kiba's spark towards improvement? Don't worry, I have plans for just about everyone, but feel free to throw ideas at me, I'm very receptive. As for the polls earlier, leaning towards the fox contract as well as a new contract for Sakura and Sasuke's alternate contract as his main.

SO, follow, rate, review, check out my website! (envoy of kairos .com)